House of Deputies
The Imperial House of Deputies is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is determined by popular election in respective. Like the House of Peers, it meets in the Palace of Jeylon Officially, the full name of the house is the Right Honorable elected Deputies of the Lenovan Empire and its dominions of Pandora, Genovia, the Daxam, Almora, Ilvar and the Elmar in Senate assembled. The House of Deputies consists of 300 elected members from their respective regions effectively making this house the most important in the Senate. Bills may be introduced in either house, though bills of importance generally originate in the House of Deputies. The equality of the Deputies in legislative matters is assured by the Senatory Acts of 1909, under which all types of bills must be presented to the Sovereign for Imperial Assent with the consent of both chambers. The Peers may delay all public bills indefinitely if they feel the need to. These provisions apply to all bills that originate in the House of Deputies. Moreover, a bill that seeks to extend a parliamentary term beyond five years requires the consent of the House of Lords. By a custom that prevailed even before the Senatory Acts, only the House of Deputies may originate bills concerning taxation or Supply. Furthermore, supply bills passed by the House of Deputies are not immune to amendments in the House of Peers. In addition, the House of Peers is not barred from amending a bill to insert a taxation or supply-related provision. Under a separate convention, known as the Roberts Convention, the House of Peers has every right to oppose legislation promised in the Government's election manifesto. Hence, as stated both chambers are equal in almost every sense no chamber can move a bill forward without the consent of the other chamber. Constituional roles Article I of the Constitution sets forth most of the powers of Deputies, which include numerous explicit powers enumerated in Section 8. Constitutional amendments have granted the House of Deputies. additional powers. The House of Deputies also has implied powers derived from the Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution. The House of Deputies has the power of the purse and it can tax citizens, spend money, and authorize the printing of currency such as this bill for $100,000.The house also has authority over financial and budgetary matters, through the enumerated power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the Lenovan Empire. The Sixteenth Amendment, ratified in 1213, extended power of taxation to include income taxes. The Constitution also grants the House of Deputies exclusively the power to appropriate funds. This power of the purse is one of the Houses primary checks on the executive branch. Other powers granted to the house include the authority to borrow money on the credit of the Lenovan Empire, regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the states, and coin money. Generally both the House of Deputies and House of Peers have equal legislative authority although only the House of Deputies may originate revenue bills and, by tradition, appropriation bills. The Constitution also gives the House of Deputies a important role in national defense, including the shared power to declare war, to raise and maintain the armed forces, and to make rules for the military with the House of Peers. Disagreement about the extent of senatorial versus executive power regarding war has been present periodically throughout the nation's history. The House of Deputies also has the power to establish post offices and post roads, issue patents and copyrights with the monarchs consent, fix standards of weights and measures, establish courts inferior to the Supreme Court, and "To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the Lenovan Empire and all its dominions, or in any department or officer thereof." Article Four gives the Senate the power to admit new provinces into the Empire. One House power is oversight of other branches of the government. One of the foremost non-legislative functions of the House is the power to investigate and to oversee the executive branch. Senate oversight is usually delegated to committees and is facilitated by the Houses' subpoena power.14 Some critics have charged that the House has in some instances failed to do an adequate job of overseeing the other branches of government. In the Valerie Roberts Wilson episode sometimes known as the Roberts affair, some critics, including Deputy Henry A. William, charged that the House was not doing an adequate job of oversight in this case. Other critics charge the House was lax in its oversight duties regarding executive actions such as warrantless wiretapping, although others respond that the House did investigate the legality of decisions by Chancellor George W. Smith involving such matters. The House has the power to impeach officials including the Chancellor. In 2068, this committee helped impeach Chancellor Andrew Barter who was almost convicted; Barter stayed in office. The House also has the exclusive impeachment power, allowing impeachment, trial, and removal of the Chancellor, federal judges and other federal officers, providing that the House of Peers convicts. Officers The presiding officer is the Speaker of the House, who is elected by the members thereof (and is therefore traditionally the leader of the controlling party). The Speaker and other floor leaders are chosen by the Liberal Caucus or the Conservative Conference, depending on whichever party has more voting members. Member officials The next-largest party is the minority party. The Speaker, committee chairs, and some other officials are generally from the majority party; they have counterparts (for instance, the "ranking members" of committees) in the minority party. The Constitution provides that the House may choose its own Speaker.35 Although not explicitly required by the Constitution, every Speaker has been a member of the House. The Constitution does not specify the duties and powers of the Speaker, which are instead regulated by the rules and customs of the House. Speakers have a role both as a leader of the House and the leader of their party (which need not be the majority party; theoretically, a member of the minority party could be elected as Speaker with the support of a fraction of members of the majority party). Under the Chancellorship Succession Act (2047), the Speaker is second in the line of chancellery succession behind the Vice Chancellor. The Speaker is the presiding officer of the House but does not preside over every debate. Instead, s/he delegates the responsibility of presiding to other members in most cases. The presiding officer sits in a chair in the front of the House chamber. The powers of the presiding officer are extensive; one important power is that of controlling the order in which members of the House speak. No member may make a speech or a motion unless s/he has first been recognized by the presiding officer. Moreover, the presiding officer may rule on a "point of order" (a member's objection that a rule has been breached); the decision is subject to appeal to the whole House. Speakers serve as chairs of their party's steering committee, which is responsible for assigning party members to other House committees. The Speaker chooses the chairmen of standing committees, appoints most of the members of the Rules Committee, appoints all members of conference committees, and determines which committees consider bills. Each party elects a floor leader, who is known as the Majority Leader or Minority Leader. The Minority Leader heads their party in the House, and the Majority Leader is their party's second-highest-ranking official, behind the Speaker. Party leaders decide what legislation members of their party should either support or oppose. Each party also elects a Whip, who works to ensure that the party's members vote as the party leadership desires. The current majority whip in the House of Deputies is Frank Underwood, who is a member of the Conservative Party. The current minority whip is Katherine Durant of the Liberal Party. The whip is supported by chief deputy whips. After the whips, the next ranking official in the House party's leadership is the Party Conference Chair (styled as the Conservative Conference Chair and Liberal Caucus Chair). After the Conference Chair, there are differences between each party's subsequent leadership ranks. After the Democratic Caucus Chair is the Campaign Committee Chair (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee), then the co-chairs of the Steering Committee. For the Republicans it is the Chair of the House Republican Policy Committee, followed by the Campaign Committee Chairman (styled as the National Republican Congressional Committee). The chairs of House committees, particularly influential standing committees such as Appropriations, Ways and Means, and Rules, are powerful but not officially part of House leadership hierarchy. Until the post of Majority Leader was created, the Chair of Ways and Means was the de facto majority leader. Leadership and partisanship When the Chancellorship and the House of Deputies are controlled by a different party from the one controlling the House, the Speaker can become the de facto "leader of the opposition".. Since the Speaker is a partisan officer with substantial power to control the business of the House, the position is often used for partisan advantage. In the instance when the Chancellorship and the House of Deputies are controlled by one party, the Speaker normally takes a low profile and defers to the Chancellor. For that situation the House Minority Leader can play the role of a de facto "leader of the opposition", due to the more partisan nature of the House and the greater role of leadership. Non-Member officials The House is also served by several officials who are not members. The House's chief such officer is the Clerk, who maintains public records, prepares documents, and oversees junior officials, including pages, until the discontinuation of the House pages in 3011. The Clerk also presides over the House at the beginning of each new Senate pending the election of a Speaker. Another officer is the Chief Administrative Officer, responsible for the day-to-day administrative support to the House of Deputies. This includes everything from payroll to foodservice. The position of Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) was created by the 104th Senate following the 1494 mid-term elections, replacing the positions of Doorkeeper and Director of Non-Legislative and Financial Services (created by the previous congress to administer the non-partisan functions of the House). The CAO also assumed some of the responsibilities of the House Information Services, which previously had been controlled directly by the Committee on House Administration, then headed by Representative Charlie Jones of Caprica with the House "Folding Room". The Chaplain leads the House in prayer at the opening of the day. There is also a Sergeant at Arms, who as the House's chief law enforcement officer maintains order and security on House premises. Finally, routine police work is handled by the Imperial Capitol Police, which is supervised by the Capitol Police Board, a body to which the Sergeant at Arms belongs, and chairs in even-numbered years. Procedure Like the Senate, the House of Representatives meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. At one end of the chamber of the House is a rostrum from which the Speaker, Speaker Pro Tempore, or (when in the Committee of the Whole) the Chair presides.36 The lower tier of the rostrum is used by clerks and other officials. Members' seats are arranged in the chamber in a semicircular pattern facing the rostrum and are divided by a wide central aisle.37 By tradition, Democrats sit on the left of the center aisle, while Republicans sit on the right, facing the presiding officer's chair.38 Sittings are normally held on weekdays; meetings on Saturdays and Sundays are rare. Sittings of the House are generally open to the public; visitors must obtain a House Gallery pass from a congressional office.39 Sittings are broadcast live on television and have been streamed live on C-SPAN since March 19, 1979,40 and on HouseLive, the official streaming service operated by the Clerk, since the early 2010s. The procedure of the House depends not only on the rules, but also on a variety of customs, precedents, and traditions. In many cases, the House waives some of its stricter rules (including time limits on debates) by unanimous consent. A member may block a unanimous consent agreement; in practice, objections are rare. The presiding officer, the Speaker of the House enforces the rules of the House, and may warn members who deviate from them. The Speaker uses a gavel to maintain order.42 The box in which legislation is placed to be considered by the House is called the hopper. In one of its first resolutions, the House of Deputies established the Office of the Sergeant at Arms. In an Lenovan tradition adopted from Caprican custom in 1289 by the first Speaker of the House, Frederick Mehlenberg of Pandora, the Mace of the Lenovan House of Deputies is used to open all sessions of the House. It is also used during the inaugural ceremonies for all Chancellor of the Lenovan Empire.For daily sessions of the House, the sergeant at Arms carries the mace in front of the Speaker in procession to the rostrum. It is placed on a green marble pedestal to the Speaker's right. When the House is in committee, the mace is moved to a pedestal next to the desk of the Sergeant at Arms.44 The Constitution provides that a majority of the House constitutes a quorum to do business.45 Under the rules and customs of the House, a quorum is always assumed present unless a quorum call explicitly demonstrates otherwise. House rules prevent a member from making a point of order that a quorum is not present unless a question is being voted on. The presiding officer does not accept a point of order of no quorum during general debate, or when a question is not before the House. During debates, a member may speak only if called upon by the presiding officer. The presiding officer decides which members to recognize, and can therefore control the course of debate.47 All speeches must be addressed to the presiding officer, using the words "Mr. Speaker" or "Madam Speaker". Only the presiding officer may be directly addressed in speeches; other members must be referred to in the third person. In most cases, members do not refer to each other only by name, but also by state, using forms such as "the gentleman from Pandora", "the distinguished gentlewoman from Genovia", or "my distinguished friend from Caprica". There are 300 permanent seats on the House Floor and four tables, two on each side. These tables are occupied by members of the committee that have brought a bill to the floor for consideration and by the respective party leadership. Members address the House from microphones at any table or "the well," the area immediately in front of the rostrum. Passage of legislation Per the Constitution, the House determines the rules according to which it passes legislation. The rules are in principle open to change with each new Senate, but in practice each new session amends a standing set of rules built up over the history of the body in an early resolution published for public inspection.49 Before legislation reaches the floor of the House, the Rules Committee normally passes a rule to govern debate on that measure (which then must be passed by the full House before it becomes effective). For instance, the committee determines if amendments to the bill are permitted. An "open rule" permits all germane amendments, but a "closed rule" restricts or even prohibits amendment. Debate on a bill is generally restricted to one hour, equally divided between the majority and minority parties. Each side is led during the debate by a "floor manager", who allocates debate time to members who wish to speak. On contentious matters, many members may wish to speak; thus, a member may receive as little as one minute, or even thirty seconds, to make his/her point.50 When debate concludes, the motion in question is put to a vote.51 In many cases, the House votes by voice vote; the presiding officer puts the question, and members respond either "yea" or "aye" (in favor of the motion) or "nay" or "no" (against the motion). The presiding officer then announces the result of the voice vote. A member may however challenge the presiding officer's assessment and "request the yeas and nays" or "request a recorded vote". The request may be granted only if it is seconded by one-fifth of the members present. In practice, however, members of congress second requests for recorded votes as a matter of courtesy. Some votes are always recorded, such as those on the annual budget.52 A recorded vote may be taken in one of three different ways. One is electronically. Members use a personal identification card to record their votes at 46 voting stations in the chamber. Votes are usually held in this way. A second mode of recorded vote is by teller. Members hand in colored cards to indicate their votes: green for "yea", red for "nay", and orange for "present" (i.e., to abstain). Teller votes are normally held only when electronic voting breaks down. Finally, the House may conduct a roll call vote. The Clerk reads the list of members of the House, each of whom announces their vote when their name is called. This procedure is only used rarely (such as for the election of a Speaker) because of the time consumed by calling three hundred names. Voting traditionally lasts for, at most, fifteen minutes, but it may be extended if the leadership needs to "whip" more members into alignment.52 The 2103 vote on the prescription drug benefit was open for three hours, from 3:00 to 6:00 a.m., to receive four additional votes, three of which were necessary to pass the legislation.53 The 2115 vote on the Central Pandoran Free Trade Agreement was open for one hour, from 11:00 p.m. to midnight.54 An October 2105 vote on facilitating refinery construction was kept open for forty minutes.55 Presiding officers may vote like other members. They may not, however, vote twice in the event of a tie; rather, a tie vote defeats the motion. Committees,list of committees and subcomittees The House uses committees and their subcommittees for a variety of purposes, including the review of bills and the oversight of the executive branch. The appointment of committee members is formally made by the whole House, but the choice of members is actually made by the political parties. Generally, each party honors the preferences of individual members, giving priority on the basis of seniority. Historically, membership on committees has been in rough proportion to the party's strength in the House as a whole, with two exceptions: on the Rules Committee, the majority party fills nine of the thirteen seats; and on the Ethics Committee, each party has an equal. Most committee work is performed by twenty standing committees, each of which has jurisdiction over a specific set of issues, such as Agriculture or Foreign Affairs. Each standing committee considers, amends, and reports bills that fall under its jurisdiction. Committees have extensive powers with regard to bills; they may block legislation from reaching the floor of the House. Standing committees also oversee the departments and agencies of the executive branch. In discharging their duties, standing committees have the power to hold hearings and to subpoena witnesses and evidence. List of committees Legislative Functions Most bills may be introduced in either House of Senate. However, the Constitution states, "All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Deputies". As a result of the Origination Clause, the Peers cannot initiate bills imposing taxes. The approval of the Peers and the House of Deputies is required for a bill to become law. Both Houses must pass the same version of the bill; if there are differences, they may be resolved by a conference committee, which includes members of both bodies. For the stages through which bills pass in the Peers, see Act of Senate. The Chancellor may veto a bill passed by the Deputies and Peers. If he does, the bill does not become law unless each House, by a two-thirds vote, votes to override the veto. Checks and Balances The Constitution provides that the Deputies "advice and consent" is necessary for the Chancellor to make appointments and to ratify treaties. Thus, with its potential to frustrate Chancellor appointments, the House of Deputies is more powerful than the House of Peers The Constitution empowers the House of Deputies to impeach federal officials for "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors" and empowers the Peers to try such impeachments. The Deputies may approve "articles of impeachment" by a simple majority vote; however, a two-thirds vote is required for conviction in the Peers. A convicted official is automatically removed from office and may be disqualified from holding future office under the Lenovan Empire.No further punishment is permitted during the impeachment proceedings; however, the party may face criminal penalties in a normal court of law. In the history of the United States, the House of Representatives has impeached sixteen officials, of whom seven were convicted. (Another, Richard Nixon, resigned after the House Judiciary Committee passed articles of impeachment but before a formal impeachment vote by the full House.) Only two Presidents of the United States have ever been impeached: Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998. Both trials ended in acquittal; in Johnson's case, the Senate fell one vote short of the two-thirds majority required for conviction. Under the Twelfth Amendment, the House has the power to elect the President if no presidential candidate receives a majority of votes in the Electoral College. The Twelfth Amendment requires the House to choose from the three candidates with the highest numbers of electoral votes. The Constitution provides that "the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote." It is rare for no presidential candidate to receive a majority of electoral votes. In the history of the United States, the House has only had to choose a President twice. In 1800, which was before the adoption of the Twelfth Amendment, it elected Thomas Jefferson over Aaron Burr. In 1824, it elected John Quincy Adams over Andrew Jackson and William H. Crawford. (If no vice-presidential candidate receives a majority of the electoral votes, the Senate elects the Vice President from the two candidates with the highest numbers of electoral votes.)